Really Creative Title
by That One Name That You Forgot
Summary: Warning: Abuse. Oh look some more angst. EriKat turned DaveKat. Karkat knew going to the coffee shop was a bad idea, but he went anyways. And in doing so, he made both one of the best and worst decisions of his life. He knew he should of just ignored the stupid fucking hipster who sat down by him.


Your name is Karkat Vantas and you have officially made one of the biggest royal fuck ups of your life.

You guess it all started when you agreed to be Eridan fucking Ampora's boyfriend in senior year. You two had been friends since freshman year, and over time you had developed a sort of crush on him. You were overjoyed when he asked you out, and of course you said fùcking yes. Big mistake. Oh he was sweet at first, treating you like a goddamn princess, and you enjoyed it like hell. After high school, you had planned to get your own apartment and start college, with Eridan on the side. It didn't turn out that way.

See, Eridan asked you to move in with him after school was done, and you agreed, much to Kankri's (your guardian/annoying as fuck brother) dismay. Once you moved in, Eridan changed. For the worse. He demanded you stay at home and be his little fucking housewife (Er- houseboyfriend?), cleaning and cooking all day. Of course you resisted and got a job anyways, telling him he could suck your dick. Eridan didn't take that well. First, he beat the shit out of you, and then made you quit your job. You were absolutely terrified and did exactly as he said. You thought it would get better, but it didn't.

Now, two years later, you were still his abused little houseboyfriend and there wasn't a damned thing you could do about it. He was your only source of income, what with him giving you 'allowance' every few weeks, and so you swallowed your pride and took the insults and the beatings. It may also be that some tiny part of you still fucking loves him and yearned for some form of affection from him. Of course, Kankri was worried about you and had his suspicions, but you refused to tell him anything. You were a big boy, you could handle yourself thank you very fùcking much. Never mind the bruises you were covered in at the moment, and the crippling depression that had developed, those were irrelevant.

Currently, you were headed to your favorite coffee shop that was conveniently close to your house. Even though it was hot as hell today, you didn't feel like picking the lock on your fridge today to get food (another gift from Eridan) so you decided fuck it, you would just go buy some. You also had to see if your stupid friend was there. 'Koffee House' they called themselves. A moronic name, but their coffee and snacks were the shit. You came here often enough that when you stepped into the shop, one of the barista simply nodded at you and starting making your usual. Caramel frappe with extra caramel, and a thick slice of pumpkin bread. Once she was done, you headed to your normal table, bag and coffee in hand, and inhaled deeply. You sighed softly at the delicious scents wafting around. God, you really fucking loved this place.

You set your coffee and bag down, and pulled the chair out. You sat down with a cringe (you were still sore from yesterday) next to a pale boy that had practically white hair and dark shades on his face. While inside. Jesus Christ. You forgot to mention this asshole didn't you? This was Dave Strider, who was, unfortunately, your best friend. You are constantly wishing you two were more, but circumstances make it impossible. *cough* Eridan. *cough* He was an insufferable douche, but he's helped you through a lot of tough times. He knows you're dating Eridan, but knows nothing about the abuse. This is because you wear pants and a long sleeved sweater everyday, not matter what the weather is, all to hide the evidence. "Well well, looks like someone decided to show up today. You stood me up yesterday." Dave drawled out after a long drink of whatever the fuck he kind of coffee he was drinking today.

You rolled your eyes at him and took a sip of your drink. Mmm, caramel was the shit. "Yeah yeah, sorry, I wanted to call you to let you know, but Eridan took me out for lunch last minute."

This is a lie. Eridan did not take you out for lunch, in fact, you were both at home yesterday. He had fùcking exploded at you after you accidentally burnt his breakfast. After the fight that ensued, you were way too hurt and tired to even think about leaving the house. But no way we're you telling Dave that. "Uh huh. Suuuure." He dragged the last word out, indicating he didn't believe you.

Panic and fear began to set in. ' _Oh god what if he's actually mad what if he doesn't want to be friends anymore what if he hates me shitshitshitshit'_ Guilt was starting to overwhelm you and you needed reassurance that he wasn't going to leave you alone now. God you couldn't be alone you would lose it, you would die. Before you had a full blown panic attack, you quickly spat out, "You're not really mad are you? You're not going to leave right?"

Dave raised his eyebrows slightly at your panicked expression. This had happened before of course, but you never told him why you were so afraid. "No. I'm not mad, I was just messing with you Karks, don't worry."

He nudged your shoulder slightly in what you assumed was supposed to be friendly way, but it caused you to hiss in pain. You had been slammed around quite a bit, so your shoulders had been replaced with giant fucking purple bruises. His eyebrows went higher and a concerned look came across his face. "You okay Karkat? Did you hurt your shoulder?"

You shook your head but you knew he wasn't buying it. Carefully he snaked his arm over your shoulders and pulled you closer to him. You tensed up at first, but quickly relaxed into him. This was the kind of thing you craved. Hugs, and love, and warmth. Thankfully, Dave provided it when he could, even if it was only in a platonic way sadly. You reach out and grab your bread and start to attack it hungrily. You hadn't eaten dinner last night, and you were pretty sure you weren't getting any tonight either. Within a minute, it's gone. You feel, rather than hear Dave's chuckle and your eyes slip shut. You could stay here forever. "Somebody's hungry, aren't they?" He says quietly in an amused tone.

You roll your eyes and huff. "I didn't eat dinner last night, so fuck you."

He doesn't like that one bit, you can tell. The way he stiffens up and let's out a hard exhale. You realize you're practically laying on him, and sit up, glancing at his face. For a moment you could've sworn you saw a flicker of disappointment, but it must have been your imagination because right now all he looks is upset and concerned. "Why didn't you eat dinner last night?"

You wrack your brain for an excuse, but none of them seem believable. You decide to go with the semi-truth. "I didn't feel like eating. I wasn't very hungry." That and you were too goddamn depressed to drag your sorry ass out of bed after making Eridan food.

Dave sighed and facepalmed. "Karkaaaat. Come on, you know better. You've gotta eat. You'll never grow taller if you don't."

You snorted a little at that and shoved him. "Fuck off, I already am tall. And it was only one meal, don't get your fucking panties in a twist."

"It's more than that and you know it. You know what. I'm going to go get you more bread." he goes to stand up, but you cling to him tightly.

"I don't want anymore bread. So no."

"Don't care, won't care." Dave gets up despite your clinging, and peels you off him.

You pout as he walks up to the counter and gets in line. Stubborn little fuck. Although you think it's really nice of him to care so much. It made you feel warm and gooey inside. Christ, you sounded like a fucking pansy. You take a long drink of your forgotten coffee. Suddenly, a slice of bread was sitting in front of you and Dave was back in his seat. Huffing, you angrily picked up the bread and devoured it nearly as quickly as the first one. As you brush the crumbs off your hands, you say "Thanks asshole. You didn't have to do that you know." Although you insulted him, the gratitude in your voice is sincere.

"Of course I did, gotta keep my little KitKat healthy." he said with a cheesy grin as he wormed his arm back around your shoulders.

You wouldn't admit to anyone, but you're blushing and smiling like an idiot now. You lean into him and sip on your coffee again. You glance down at your watch and suddenly your good mood shatters like glass. 11:47. Eridan gets home expecting lunch at noon. You left too late and stayed too long. Fuck. You pale and push away from the table hard, quickly snagging your half empty coffee cup. "Shit shit shit fuck I'm gonna be late!" you chant to yourself as you struggle to shove you wallet in your pocket.

Dave frowns and stands up as well. "Woah, woah. Karkles slow down a second, what're you late for?"

"Eridan gets home at noon, I've gotta be back and make him lunch!" You say in a rush as you throw your arms around him and stand on your tippy toes to peck his cheek without even thinking about it. You realize too late that this might be a bit too friendly than you should be with him, but it was too late to change it now. "Bye Dave I'll text you later!" you call out.

You rush out of the shop, and if you had bothered to look behind you, you would've seen Dave frozen with his hand to his cheek and a blush across his face.

You run all the way home, panting and out of breath, checking your watch every so often. You arrive at your apartment at 11:55 and practically throw yourself at the door, shoving yourself inside. You give the apartment a quick onceover to make sure it's still clean, and you're relieved to find it is. You stumble into the kitchen and set your now empty coffee cup on the counter. You needed to get rid of that before Eridan gets home, as you weren't technically allowed to leave at all without his permission. Starting to regain your breath, you begin opening the packages of food Eridan left out for you to make lunch with. You hear a throat clear behind you and to the right. You blanch and drop the food in your hands. Eridan must have come home early today. Shit. You were so fucked. You turn around to see him glaring and holding your cup from the coffee shop in his hand. "WWhere havve you been Kar?"

You flinch slightly at his angry tone and stare down at the ground. "I was… I was at the coffee shop a couple blocks away.." You say quietly while fidgeting.

You hear him stride forward and suddenly there's a stinging pain in your cheek and you're on the floor. You feel a few tears well up in your eyes, but you blink them away and twist around to look up Eridan. He's glaring at you again and you swallow thickly, throat suddenly dry. You are in SO much trouble. "Wwhat the hell did I tell you about fucking going places wwithout my permission?!" He explodes, rattling you like toy. His face is dark and your ears are almost ringing at how loud he was.

You're shaking now and terror is starting to boil over inside you. You know what's going to happen next and you're praying to whatever God there is that it's over quickly. "I-I just wanted to go get some food I-I'm sorry!" You're crying now goddammit, trying to brush the tears away but they only keep coming.

"Wwell, since you obvviously ate so much today, I guess you won't need any food for for the rest of the wweek, right?" He sneers down at you, waiting for an answer.

You nod quickly, the ache in your cheek protesting at the movement, suddenly glad that Dave had gotten you an extra slice of bread earlier. You think that maybe if you agree with him, it won't be so bad. No such luck. He yanks you off the floor by your wrists and you cry out at the pain in your shoulders. Fuck, that hurt. Before you can even process what he's doing, Eridan is swinging you over to the wall separating the kitchen and living room. He slams you into it and the snarl on his face twists even deeper. Pain rockets up your back and nearly whimper, like the pathetic little fuck you are. God, you're such a fucking idiot, you've really pissed him off this time. His eyes bore into you and you cringe away from him as much as you can. "Are you cheating on me?! Is that wwhy you wwere there?! Answwer me!" he's shouting right in your face and for a moment blind panic overwhelms you.

"I'm not I'm not! I swear to god I'm not!" You're hysterical now, sobbing and you can't breathe properly ' _Ohgodohgodohgod he's really mad does he know about Dave fuckfuckfuckme'_

Eridan doesn't believe you, and the look on his face tells you that he is only getting angrier. You hiccup and close your eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

 ***Look it's now a few hours later***

You lay curled up on your bed, dazed and crying quietly. You were aching in quite a few places and sure you were bleeding somewhere. The past few hours had been hell; Eridan calling in for work and whaling on you afterwards. After he had finished, he had dumped you in your room and locked you inside. That's where you've been for the past hour or so, trying to get your bearings. The pain pills you took around 30 minutes ago were finally starting to kick in, thank God. Your mood had plummeted as it normally did after these little incidents, and you felt the usual self-loathing and depression starting to creep into your mind. This was all your fault, and you knew it. You were too much of fucking wuss to stand up to Eridan, and you suppose you deserved everything he did for that specific reason. Christ, you really fucking hated yourself right now.

An ache settled in your heart, and soon your breath hitched and you were crying much harder than before. You bury your face in a pillow on your bed to muffle any noises you make. Eridan might get pissed again, and you really didn't think you were up for a Round Two tonight. Your thoughts start travelling down a much darker path as they so often do, and you do nothing to stop them. Honestly, you were used to it at this point and you had no idea how to stop them on your own. ' _Why am I even still here… There's no point to me even being alive if_ _ **this**_ _is what I have to look forward to everyday… Especially if it's my fault to begin with...'_ You're trembling again and your hands ball into fists, fingernails digging into the skin of your palms painfully.

You sit up wobbily and rub the tears away with the heels of your hands. After sniffling for a few minutes, you rise to your feet and slowly make your way to the bathroom connected to your room. At least you'll have water for the next week. No way in hell were you going to chance eating anything again, even if Dave bought you food. Eridan would figure it out somehow. You had absolutely no intention of stopping your visits to the little cafe though. You lived for the few happy hours you spent there every week. You'd make sure Eridan didn't know you were going. You open the door to your bathroom and flick on the light switch, shutting the door swiftly. You don't want Eridan to see the light under your door and get suspicious.

You glance up at the mirror and bite your split lip at your reflection, feeling more tears slides down your face. There's an ugly purple bruise blossoming on the right side of your face, and a small cut across your forehead, covered in dry blood. It really does absolute wonders for your already disgusting reflection. You don't even know how Eridan ever asked you out in the first place. It doesn't make sense to you. The boy in the mirror is ugly. He always had been. Ugly and horrible and stupid and disgusting and a terrible person and youhatedhimandfuckyouhatedthissomuch.

And then you're on the floor, bawling your eyes out again, trembling and gasping. This was why you avoided mirrors, they nearly always triggered a crying fit. You should've known better. Once you can see somewhat clearly, you pull yourself up using the counter and hold your head over the sink, taking deep shuddering breaths. ' _Calm down.'_ you tell yourself firmly. You had been through worse, you could get through this.

You open up the mirror and reached for the Bandaids when your gaze falls on the large bottle of sleeping pills sitting on the shelf. For a moment your hand hovers over the white container as you contemplated taking them. It would be so much easier to just give up than to keep trying, you weren't getting anywhere anyways. And it would be as simple as falling asleep.. You grab the bottle of pills and shut the mirror, once again sitting down on the floor. You push down the top and twist, revealing the small blue pills inside. Hundreds of them. Eridan liked to buy things in bulk. You set the cap down on the floor and are about to pour some into your hand, when your phone pings.

You jump in surprise and put the bottle down to fish your phone out of your back pocket. It's Dave. You slap your forehead with your palm, then wince at the sting of the cut you forgot you had there. You were supposed to text Dave earlier but you had completely forgotten.

' **hey Karkles'**

You feel a small smile grow on your face at the nickname. Pills forgotten for the moment, you lean against the bathroom wall and respond. Although you're not sure how smart that is in your current state, as you feel like you could admit anything to anyone.

' **HEY ASSHOLE.'**

' **someone forgot to text me'**

' **I DIDNT FUCKING FORGET, I JUST GOT CAUGHT UP IN OTHER SHIT THAT'S MORE IMPORTANT.'**

' **uh huh sure. what's more important than your best bro'**

' **THESE PILLS, STUPID.'**

' **...what?'**

You sit straight up suddenly and cringe at the pain in your back. Shit. You shouldn't have said that, and you know it. You're too goddamn tired and loopy to be talking with anyone at the moment. You need to fix your mistake quickly before he gets any more suspicious.  
 **  
**' **THE FUCKING SLEEPING PILLS I TAKE TO HELP GET MY SORRY ASS TO SLEEP.'**

 ****A partial lie. That's not what you were going to use them for at all. But you're not going to tell him that.

' **are you sure? should I be worried?'**

' **NO, IM FINE. JUST GOING TO BED SOON.'**

 ****' **oh. well shit, if you're going to sleep, I guess I'll just go.'**

' **WAIT! I NEEDED TO TELL YOU THAT MIGHT NOT BE THERE TOMORROW.'**

' **ah shit why not karkles? how am i supposed to survive without my daily dose of 'FUCK YOU'?'**

 ****' **SHUT UP YOU ASSTARD. AND I DON'T KNOW, ERIDAN SAID HE MIGHT BE TAKING ME SOMEWHERE.'**

 ****Another lie. But you weren't sure how sore you'd be tomorrow, or if you would be able to leave bed. ****

' **you two lovebirds have fun then. i'll show up just in case'**

 ****' **OKAY. I'M LEAVING NOW. NIGHT FUCKASS.'**

 ****' **wait. in all seriousness, don't do anything stupid alright? i worry about you and shit.'**

For a brief moment, you feel warm all over. The idea of someone worrying about you, YOU, the biggest fuck up ever, makes you the tiniest bit happy. Even if you are about to do something stupid.

 ****' **YEAH YEAH. I WONT DO ANYTHING STUPID.'**

' **promise me.'**

' **WHAT?'**

' **you see what i said. promise me you won't do anything stupid.'**

' **...I PROMISE. YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY. IDIOT.'**

' **i do anyways.'**

' **YEAH WELL. GOODNIGHT FUCKER.'**

' **night cutie'**

 ****You set down your phone and lean back against the wall with a small blush. He's always saying things like that to you. Standing up, you grab the sleeping pill bottle and stare at it. You think of your promise to Dave. And how his concern felt nice. And how it made you happy to you know someone out there cared and worried about you, even if only a little bit. You open the bottle and take one pill out and put the rest away. You would be okay for a little while longer.

* * *

You slowly trudge after Eridan with dread and a sort of numb fear in your heart. He woke you up this morning, telling you he wanted to walk with you to the cafe you normally go to. You knew better than to say no, and so you caked makeup on your face to hide anything from the day before, and changed clothes. Your old ones had blood all over them. Right now the only thing keeping you from running away from Eridan in terror is his tight grip on your right hand. You can only pray that Dave would be nice to Eridan and not start anything. See, Eridan tended to get a tad bit... Possessive around other people. Especially anyone you were close to. And Dave probably wouldn't react well to that.

Once you arrive at the coffeehouse, you can see that Dave is sitting at your usual table and doing something on his phone through the window. Eridan opens the door for you (what a 'gentleman' you think), and you both step inside. The usually soothing smell of coffee only serves to make you nauseous now, and when you feel Eridan's hand cling to yours again, you blanch slightly. Oh Swiss fucking cheese, you were so not ready for this. The barista, Tina, who you know from your previous visits here, smiles at you. "Hello, what can I get for you two today?" She says brightly. You see Dave glance up from his phone, and raise his eyebrows at you two. You just shrug at him.

Eridan pulls you closer to him by wrapping his arm around your shoulders as he responds (rather politely you notice) "I'll havve a small hot Chai latte, and he'll havve wwater."

You feel him squeeze you tightly and you hold back the wince from the ache it causes. That's right. You're not allowed to eat or drink anything other than water for the week. Your stomach is not pleased with you currently. You see Tina stare at you in confusion, as she knows how you feel about people who order water in coffee shops (you once ranted at one of the other workers here when they offered you it). You simply shake your head. She doesn't say anything more as she makes Eridan drink, and soon you're both walking towards the tables.

You almost hope for a moment that you could act like you didn't know Dave, but he's waving you over, and you can't ignore that. Eridan guides you both over to the table and you feel his arm around you tighten once again. You cringe slightly but thankfully he doesn't notice. You think you saw Dave frown but you can't be quite sure, because Eridan is ushering you into your seat across from Dave and pulling up a chair for himself. You note that Dave has a cup of coffee and two thick slices of blueberry bread. Oh god you were so hungry… Your stomach growls and you shake your head to clear away thoughts of hunger. After a few moments of awkward silence, Dave speaks up, "Hi Karkat! I see you finally brought your boyfriend for me to meet. The name's Dave Strider, and yours?"

Eridan squeezes you and you bite down on your bottom lip hard. Fuck that really hurts. "I'm Eridan Ampora. It seems like you knoww my Kar. Howw do you twwo knoww each other?" He says.

You know what he's doing. He's trying to find out if you had been lying to him about cheating on him. Dave smiles at you and you manage a half smile in return. "Well I'm sure this lil cutie right here could tell you about how we met." Dave responds and wow you're fucking blushing.

Eridan frowns and as you go to respond, he cuts you off. "I'd rather hear it from you. Kar here lovves to tell me lies."

You look down in shame and feel the tips of your ears burn red. You hate being embarrassed like this, but you know you can't speak up. You steal a glance up at Dave and you're startled to find that he looks upset. His eyebrows are furrowed and he doesn't look happy with Eridan at all. "We actually met here in this cafe a few years back. I saw his little toosh sitting alone and decided to join him. We've been friends ever since." His tone is strained slightly and he sounds annoyed.

You remember that day like it was only yesterday. You had been irritated that some weirdo had just fùcking plopped down next to you without a care in the world. But next thing you knew, you were in a heated discussion about Harry Potter with said weirdo, having the time of your life. Your attention snaps back to the conversation when you hear Eridan speak up, "Strange howw he nevver told me about you. I guess he just likes to keep secrets."

He's glares down at you and you squirm uncomfortably. God you hope he won't pull anything physical in a public place like this. The very idea made you feel dizzy and nauseous. "Well, I'm sure he has a good reason. The Karkat I know wouldn't do that unless he felt he had to." Dave's voice is almost smug, and you give him a small, grateful smile. At least you could count on him to be on your side.

Unfortunately, Eridan catches that smile and one of his hands pinches your leg under the table. Right on a fùcking bruise too. You flinch and let out a small whimper, and your eyes mist over for a moment before you force the tears away. Fuck, you REALLY hope nobody caught that, but somehow you're doubtful. Dave seems to have of course, and he looks much angrier than he did a second ago. "Karkat are you okay? That sounded like you got hurt." The concern in his voice is evident but clearly you can't tell him what actually happened. You would rather not get murdered today.

You open your mouth to tell him you're fine when Eridan places his hand over your mouth. You sigh. Looks like you won't be able to get a word out during this chat. "He's fine. None of your business really." He snipes out.

Dave shoots a glare at him and throws back, "Actually, I think it is my business. I'd much rather hear his pretty voice than yours."

Before Eridan can reply and cause a fight, you remove Eridan's hand and cut in; "Guys, stop please. We really don't need to cause a scene here…" Dave looks like he's ready to say more, but your pleading tone must have convinced him to calm down. He takes a deep breath and his face quickly goes blank. You let out a small sigh of relief and feel Eridan's grip on you loosen. Thank god. As you go to start up the conversation again, your stomach decides now is the best fucking time to imitate whale noises. Your face flushes and pray to fuck that Dave didn't notice it- oh fuck your life he did. When does anything you want to go unnoticed by him ever really get unnoticed anyways. Stupid hot observant blondes. "Woah there. Someone sounds hungry."

Eridan (of course) replies for you. "Oh, Kar is on a neww diet that I recommended to him. He's finally going to lose some of that annoying chub he has." This statement is punctuated by another tight squeeze and you swallow the noise of pain you would've made. Shit, you _hated_ it when Eridan got all possessive like this.

His words and tone honestly make you feel a little sick and you can't even look Dave in the eye. You were pretty sure whatever 'chub' you may have ever had disappeared after the first few months with Eridan, but you couldn't be sure. Maybe you were actually fat. It was kind of hard to believe that though, when you could almost FEEL your stomach trying to digest itself. "Chub? Karkat doesn't have any chub! And he looks like he hasn't eaten in awhile, I'm sure a piece or two of bread couldn't hurt." Dave pushes his plate closer to you and you can feel your mouth watering, your gaze hooked on the bread in front of you.

However, you know better than to take it, despite your strong hunger. The sharp pinch to your arm tells you all you need to know about Eridan's thoughts. You blink away any tears forming and spit out a shaky, falsely bright response. "I-I'm alright, I don't want any. Thanks though." You give him a tiny thankful smile.

Dave smiles back encouragingly at you and picks up the bread, holding it up to your mouth. For one happy and light moment, it feels like it's just you and him at this table, and your heart flutters slightly in your chest. Why the fuck did he have to be so goddamn sweet and cute. "Aw, you don't gotta lie to me! I heard your sweet little belly grumble a minute ago!" Is he flirting? You can't tell. His fingers are almost touching your lips now and you feel a blush starting to rise up.

The moment doesn't last. Eridan immediately shoves Dave's hand away and snarls at him. "Keep your filthy fùcking hands awway from MY property!"

You groan quietly and anxiety seeps into you as you see some of Dave's pent up anger starting to leak out. He looks ready to explode, and Eridan is ready to start brawling right then and there. Fuck, you needed to fix this. You needed to fix this right fùcking now. But before you can even think about what to say, the blueberry bread is being shoved in your mouth, and Dave is pulling his hand away with a satisfied look. "Your property? I don't fucking think so you possessive asshole."

You've barely have time to swallow before Eridan is swiftly grabbing your face and roughly slamming your lips to his. You yelp in shock and pain (fùcking bruise that HE put there) and he takes that as an opportunity to shove his tongue in your mouth. You shove on his chest, trying to push him away because fuck you don't like this and fùck you were about to lose your shit this waswrongandgrossandnasty. His arms settle around your waist possessively and pull you closer. You make a small noise of pain and tears are flying down your face because there's nothing else you can do and fucking hell this really hurt. Abruptly, there's a loud banging noise and Eridan finally pulls away from you. You sniffle and quickly rub away your tears with the palms of your hands (thank god for waterproof makeup). Once you gain your sight back, you glance up at Dave who is standing up with his hands on the table, and holy shit he is fùcking _pissed._ "Get the fuck off him you abusive piece of shit." He grinds out and you stare at him with dread in the pit of your stomach. He knows.

Eridan lets go of you and jerks up angrily from his seat. "Wwhat the fuck did you just say to me?!"

"You heard what I fucking said."

"Dave! Calm down, okay? It's fine!" You plead. He doesn't listen.

You take this as your cue to start ushering Eridan out of the cafe before this can escalate any more. Dave is practically shaking in anger, and you really don't want him to get hurt. You can see the baristas getting ready to call over security and the few other customers in the shop are making no effort to hide their staring. You decide the best way to calm Eridan down is to pull out the old nickname you used to use all the time back when he was nicer. "Eri.. I think we should go. We're causing a scene, and I still need to go make you breakfast at home, okay?" You force a smile at him.

Eridan visibly relaxes and one of his hands closes around your wrist with a vice like grip. You manage to keep a completely straight face even though that hurt like a fùcking bitch. "You're right Kar. Wwe don't havve time for this anywways." He kisses you quickly and you suppress a shudder. The feeling of his lips on yours isn't pleasant and he's none too gentle with you either.

While he pulls you away (leaving both of your trash at the table), you look back at Dave and mouth the word 'sorry' several times. You can see he's extremely worried, but there's nothing you can do since Eridan is dragging you out of the cafe. You just hope to god he's not too mad at you.

Eridan drags you all the way home and in that time you manage to gnaw your bottom lip raw. You're scared that he's going to hurt you even more, although you're hoping against hope that he won't. When you arrive at the apartment, he lets go of you to unlock the door. You move back slowly, thinking you could maybe get away, but he turns around and yanks you inside by one of your horns. Searing pain rips through your head, and you scream loudly. Eridan's hand jerks over your mouth and he kicks the door shut. Tears of pain spring in your eyes and well fuck it all Eridan is grabbing the other horn and slamming your body into the wall. You yelp and freeze there, wide eyed and panicking. Fuck you, you were a goner. "Wwhat the fùck wwas that back there?! Wwhy the fùck didn't you tell me about him?!" He shouts in your face, and holy shit you don't know what to do and crap you can't breathe properly.

He doesn't give you time to respond before he squeezes your horns tighter and slams your head into the wall as hard as he can. You feel a sharp stinging pain in the back of your head and you're screaming again. You struggle against him but he slams your head again, harder this time, and everything starts going fuzzy. What was he saying? You don't know. Another slam, but the pain is more distant this time. You feel a warm liquid dripping down the back of your head. Your eyes slip shut without your consent. You realize that you're extremely tired all of a sudden, and you give in to sleep, vaguely hearing Eridan scream at you all the while.

Your name is Dave Strider and you're worried about your best bro, who you may or may not be in love with. After the horrible encounter you just had with Karkat's boyfriend, you just KNOW something is going on between them that he hasn't told you. The way he seemed to be in pain and how fùcking Eridan was uber possessive sent up too many red flags to count. Not to mention Karkat had started _crying_ when Eridan kissed him. That wasn't normal. At all. Shit, you can't even remember the last time you've been so pissed off. And the way he fùcking called Karkat, your beautiful Karkat, his _property_ like that. You don't know why you didn't attack him right then and there. You should've fùcking pummeled him, no matter what Karkat said.

You're currently pacing the floor of your apartment, waiting for Karkat to respond to your messages. It was the day after the whole incident and Karkat still hadn't texted you in response to the messages you sent him yesterday. Which was strange because he normally acted like an eager puppy whenever you texted him. Not that you minded. You thought it was adorable to be honest and you loved texting him anyways. But he wasn't doing it now. And that worried you. Especially since he seemed injured as fuck at the coffee shop. Goddammit you were only making yourself more worried.

You sigh and sit down on your bed, running your hands through your hair. The pent up anger wasn't going to do you any good at this point, so you spend some time converting it into worry for Karkles. Really, his shouty ass has been there for you a lot and you don't know what you'd do without him. You've even let him see your eyes before. You'd been overjoyed when he treated you the same as he always had, and you're pretty sure that's when you figured out that you were way fùcking in love with him. He could be so sweet to you sometimes and even though he was so hard and rough on the outside, you knew he was a big softie. You're one of the only people he lets close enough to know that. You'd be willing to bet your shades Eridan didn't know. Ugh. Just thinking about that _thing_ made anger well up in you.

You're pretty sure he's abusing Karkat. Badly. There, you finally let yourself think it. If that was the case then what the hell were you still doing here. You sit up and swing your legs off your bed, standing up. Fuck it, you were going to see Karkat.


End file.
